Human Rights violations in Indian held Kashmir highlighted in Brussels

ISLAMABAD, Oct 27 (APP):Embassy of Pakistan in Brussels organized a seminar entitled ”Resolving Kashmir issue: A flash Point in South –Asia.”

The event was attended by people from all walks of life, from Pakistani Belgian and international community based in Brussels including several ambassadors, foreign journalists and academics.
The event was organized in connection with October 27, which was observed as Black Day for Kashmir, as it marks the beginning of grave human tragedy in Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IoK) as in 1947 on this day, Indian occupation forces landed in Srinagar to occupy, subjugate, oppress, and terrorize innocent Kashmiri people. As the brutalities continue with impunity even today , Black Day was observed to express solidarity with the People of Kashmir.
Belgian human rights activist Andy Vermaunt gave detailed account of Human Rights violations in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. He stated that the facts and figures compiled on the basis of reports of international organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reveal that from January 1989 to May 2017, total killings had exceeded 100,000, over 141,166 civilians were arrested, more than 7,083 custodial killings took place, between 8,000 to 10,000 enforced disappearances, over 107,872 children were orphaned, about 22,836 women widowed and over 10,872 women were molested and gang-raped.
Ramisha Khan a Master’s student of prestigious Leuven University narrated the true stories of blinding of Kashmiri youth by Indian army through the use of pellet guns in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. She narrated the stories of young girls including 14 year old Insha Mushtaq, 13 years old Ifra Jan and 5 years old Zohra.
Insha suffered wounds from pellets while standing in the kitchen of her home as she peeped through the window and the policemen, who were outside, targeted her with a swarm of pellets which pierced in to her eyes resulting in permanent and complete blindness.
Ramisha informed that Indian armed forces have admitted themselves that within few months to crush the uprisings they fired nearly 4,000 cartridges at demonstrators, who protested against police brutality, and even onlookers. It means 1.3m metal balls hurtling towards public gatherings predominantly made up of young unarmed people. They were shot on the face with pellets capable of piercing the eyes. She reminded that the body of an 11-year-old boy, was found on the outskirts of Srinagar, riddled with hundreds of pellets.
Senior Representative of students of Leuven University Wim Knaepen, in his speech, quoted the statement by the president of Students’ Union of Jawaherlal Nehru University Kanhaiya Kumar, in which he had stated “Kashmiri women are raped by Indian security personnel”.
He said this was an evidence to brutalities being committed by the Indian security forces in the occupied Kashmir. He added that people within India were now recognizing the human rights violations by the Indian Security Forces in the Occupied Kashmir. The atrocities had reached a level that the reports of grave human rights violations were coming out despite the fact that India was not letting in Independent Observers.
Adil Sardar and Shehbaz Ghani rendered songs depicting the misery and pain of people in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.

In his concluding remarks Deputy Head of Mission Asif Hussain Memon said despite commitments made by the early Indian leadership and numerous resolutions of the UN Security Council on Jammu & Kashmir, the Indian government had unleashed a reign of terror in Indian occupied Kashmir.